Chapter 5 — The Thief Girl's Use

"Right now it's nothing more than a rather sharp sword," Gao Yang sighed. "Seven hundred years. Even if a weapon blessed by the elves doesn't wear down or corrode, the magic within has long since dissipated, and who knows how long it would take to recharge it."

As he spoke, Gao Yang turned to look in front of the coffin, where there was a small stone platform—but the platform was empty, which made Gao Yang's brow furrow instantly: "Wait, I remember there being a shield here too... Where's my shield? How could a shield that big just disappear?"

Heidi's expression turned ugly at once: "Ancestor... your descendants have once again failed your blessing. The Shield of Ansu, Guardian of the Kingdom, was taken from the tomb a hundred years ago by your descendant Grumman Cecil, and afterward lost on the battlefield..."

Heidi was stammering, clearly with much still left unsaid—perhaps out of fear that once she told him of that great affair from a hundred years ago, the Xuanyuan Sect before her would suffer a fit of rage and drop dead on the spot. Though, to be fair, there was a coffin right there, so putting him back to rest would be easy enough...

Gao Yang could sense Heidi's hesitation but did not call her out on it. Instead, he frowned and cursed: "Good-for-nothing wretch... Lucky the sword was kept in the coffin. At least that Grumman wasn't so deranged as to pry open the Xuanyuan Sect's coffin to complete the set!"

Heidi and Rebecca could only bow their heads and listen, cold sweat on their faces. The Xuanyuan Sect leaping out of his coffin to curse his great-grandson—this affair had long since gone far beyond the bounds of the fantastic, and as the younger generation, they felt pressure just breathing!

Fortunately, Gao Yang was only somewhat annoyed at the loss of a piece of equipment that might have come in handy. After one curse, he said no more and led everyone out of the tomb chamber.

After leaving the tomb chamber and entering the stone hall, Rebecca looked around, then waved toward a corner: "Betty! Come out! It's safe now!"

Gao Yang looked over curiously and saw a thin, small girl—who looked perhaps even younger than Rebecca—shrink timidly out of the shadows in the corner. The little girl wore a coarse cloth dress, had a few freckles of adolescence on her face, flaxen hair hanging loose behind her head, and in her hands she clutched a frying pan tightly.

Upon seeing Gao Yang, the girl called Betty clearly showed hesitation and nervousness on her face. With her not-so-quick wits, she probably could not begin to guess where this sudden stranger had popped out from...

"This is a maid from the castle. We don't know how she got left behind by the first group that broke out—anyway, she somehow ended up tagging along with us," Rebecca introduced the girl briefly. "Betty, this is..."

A faint tremor from above the tomb cut Rebecca off.

"No time for talk," Gao Yang raised his longsword and looked at Amber. "Now—lead the way."